I was a Nerfed Hero in Another World

The morning sun came outside our windows and greeted our eyes. The cock-a-doodle-doo of the roosters blared in our ears, waking up our senses like alarm clocks.

I finally pushed myself off the bed and crashed to the ground. Thanks to my innate tenacity as a knight, the damage I felt turned minimal. But the creature that came afterwards dealt the final blow and pounded my already curved spine.

"Ouch, FENRIR! GET OFF MY BACK!" I shouted, but my warnings were all futile.

The wolf still slept on top of me like a log and continued pressing my back.

But that was not all. Another person rolled over and slammed against Fenrir and my back, adding more pressure from another sleeping girl. I could not carry the weight, which made my grip slip as I fell on the floor.

A defeated sigh escaped from my mouth as I let these two pommel me with their gigantic bodies. And no matter how hard I tried waking these two idiots up, Fenrir and Merleen never budged to open their eyes.

It took them around an hour before waking up. All those sixty minutes of my memories, I finally experience being sardines squished against its can.

"Arthur, what happened!" Merleen screamed, and immediately tried helping me back up from the ground.

But the damage was already too great! The three of us waited around a few minutes before we could meet the chief outside, since both of my feet turned numb.

All of us went outside and did our first agenda for the morning. Like I mentioned to the chief, my team would only accept tasks such as helping the villagers, transporting goods, and protecting carriages until we could purchase a carriage of our own.

The villagers posted all of those tasks on a bulletin board near the entrance. These missions were for adventurers and powerful people that could do the job well.

We needed that caravan for our journey, since it would take us a couple of months to reach the demonic kingdom by foot. There was no way I would walk that damned road with no transportation device.

If we could find transportation requests to the demon kingdom, that would be great. But I doubted that would ever happen in our situation. However, it would still be best if we owned the transport, since we would encounter dozens of monsters along the way.

Nobody would want to trade near the land of demons, especially a merchant who wished to earn money and not to meet the god of death.

I plucked fifteen papers from the bulletin board and gave five to the two girls. Fenrir and Merleen accepted the scroll, but they did not know what to do.

"These papers contain the information that we need from the jobs. As soon as we accomplish a task, the villagers would use their magic to sign the paper and return it to the guild. That's how I remember doing it," I explained to the two girls, while pointing out the gist of the paper.

"We should accept around fifty or more of these before buying ourselves a wagon," I exclaimed, while browsing the papers available for today. "We need a lot of hard work to earn things even in this world."

"Why can't we just steal one? Those villagers are defenceless against us?! With one swipe of my fingers, those dumbasses will hand us a wagon?" Fenrir asked, with her eyes gleaming with excitement.

"No, Fenrir, because stealing is bad. And we are not bad guys," I retorted.

My explanation sounded child-like, but it was what I wanted to say. I wanted to become a hero that everyone would depend on, just like those fictional characters from comic books and stories. And I already neglected that ideal before when I first stayed inside the village.

I did not want to do it again and ruined the sacrifice of Aferous.

"If you steal something from the villagers, I won't guide you towards the demonic kingdom."

"Are you threatening me, Arthur?"

After our exchange, Fenrir dashed straight towards me and pinned my body against the wall. I could not escape her pin even if I tried. Fenrir locked my movements with her eyes, staring deeply into mine.

"You're nothing but a pawn to me, little Arthur. You don't know how capable I am to kill you with my own hands."

"Oh, I know, Fenrir. But if you kill me now, do you think these people would know about the demonic kingdom? Your best bet would be the underground merchants that would offer you the information in exchange for your chastity…," I said, while pushing her hand downwards. "I know you can't kill me, and I wouldn't dare to do the same. If we work together, we can achieve everything that we want. And helping others would also help us in the future. If you complete those papers and help these villagers, I swear your kindness would return to your favour. Please remember that."

Merleen stood between our faces, hoping to split us apart if a fight broke up. Fortunately for us, Fenrir and I concluded our conversation. She went ahead, heeded my advice, and proceeded to complete the five pages I gave.

"Shall we get going then, Merleen?" I asked, and held Merleen's hand.

Since we had nothing to do in this place, we might as well carry out our tasks before sundown. In four days, we might purchase the wagon. But for now, we must do what we can to earn those coins.

And that was what we did.

Fenrir already finished five tasks within the day. We saw her slamming the door shut from our room, with the blaring sounds of snoring afterwards. She returned to the room and slept like a log for the rest of the time that I could remember.

Merleen and I had the same client, which made our jobs easier and quicker to accomplish. Since we already finished our tasks, we went around the market and tried trading our herbs and plants for packaged food on our futuristic trip.

The two of us also did window shopping and found dozens of clothes Merleen would want to wear. Unfortunately, I couldn't buy her the things that she wanted. Merleen noticed my depressed gaze and cheered me up along the way.

We were a team, and yet I couldn't buy anything for her. But Merleen shook her head and insisted that weapons, armours, and magical tools were the things she yearned for and not those unusable accessories.

Merleen became a practical woman that wanted no more but decent upgrades to our combat. So, we bought a couple of things, such as potions, elixirs, and rings that could help us along the way. The materials we bought cost us nothing but the extra tasks that we did for the village.

Coins in this world differed from my world. The villagers had no papers to use as money, and they could trade nourishments for materials that the merchant might like. The coin system comprises bronze, silver, and gold being the highest.

Considering our errands, these villagers paid us bronze coins for our efforts. But because the carriage was cheap merchandise, these villagers sold their horses and wagons for fifty bronze coins.

Merleen and I already secured a merchant that could help us buy a wagon. The chief also recommended this trader, since he had cheaper products compared to other salespeople.

"I also have an errand for you too… I could give you a carriage if you successfully protected me... What do you say, Arthur?"

Much to my surprise, the merchant suggested an offer that I could not reject. Even without hearing the task's details, I already gave my word.

"All you gotta do is escort me inside the castle... The Kingdom of Caerleon castle," the merchant said, before leaving the place. "I want to meet you tomorrow at this place when you see the early sunrise. Please do not be tardy, or else I could deduct some coins for your team. People knew who I was, and I controlled all those merchants that you saw from the ruined plaza."

We had no other choice but to accept the offer.

There was nothing wrong with the job. However, the description for this task had a risky conclusion if the king saw us as spies. Since the king wanted the adventurer's guild destroyed, his majesty would not dare meet warriors and mages like us.

But the merchant that planned on helping us had a plan.

"As long as we do not use our magic, everything would flow smoothly like butter," the merchant said, while nodding to himself.

The night finally came, so Merlene and I returned to our room. The chief greeted us in the lobby and gave us additional coins that we could use. He also knew about the merchants' deal and how that job could play a vital part in their war….